Conti launches BestDrive tire distribution, retreading business

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (March 30, 2015) — BestDrive L.L.C. is a new player in the North American commercial tire/retread distribution business, but its owner/operator has a familiar name: Continental Tire the Americas L.L.C.

Seeking to improve the acceptance of and expand distribution of its ContiTread retread product line, Continental has established company-run BestDrive commercial tire sales/retread outlets in the Detroit, Memphis and Phoenix metro areas, according to Clif Armstrong, managing director of BestDrive at Continental Tire.

The goal of this initiative, he said, is to “augment existing independent ContiLifeCycle retreaders in an effort to build a nationwide network.”

Mr. Armstrong said Continental is opening BestDrive outlets only in markets where key fleet customers have told the tire maker they need a retread option before they'll commit to using Conti's new tires and where Conti is unable to find a viable independent business partner.

“We went hard after the fleets” to test our new tires, he said, and “they came back to us and said, ‘We need more points of light.'”

The retread facilities being set up are designed for annual production of 45,000 to 48,000 units at full capacity — that is, with three curing chambers, two buffers, two builders, etc. in action.

The plants, laid out in 50,000- to 60,000-sq.-ft. buildings, start on a smaller scale with one or two chambers, he said, and ramp up over time.

The BestDrive outlets also sell new Continental- and General-brand truck tires and provide a range of truck maintenance services. The BestDrive locations have showrooms more representative of modern retail showrooms, he added, an effort to make the outlets distinctive in the marketplace.

Before opening a BestDrive location, Mr. Amstrong said Conti discusses the plan with its dealers in the targeted area to explain its rationale for the decision.

“Our first option is always to have an independent ContiTread retreader in a market,” Mr. Armstrong said, “but where we feel we have to, we'll put in our own stores.”

That said, Mr. Amstrong said Conti has no immediate plans for more BestDrive locations. The BestDrive identity is one Continental uses in other markets worldwide, he added.

The Memphis location opened last September, he said, and the Detroit area plant — in suburban Taylor, Mich. — started production in early March.

The Phoenix location, by contrast, opened five years ago as Conti's original demonstration plant when it was setting up the Conti-LifeCycle network.

Now converted to a BestDrive outlet, it's located at the Lewis minimum security Arizona corrections facility in Buckeye, Ariz., west of Phoenix. The commercial sales/service facility is near  to the prison grounds, whereas the retread plant is inside the facility, where inmates work alongside Continental personnel, earning a wage and learning a trade, Mr. Amstrong said.